NEWS & NOTES

Horseshoe Casino Baltimore General Manager Chad Barnhill reported 1,900 of the nearly 2,200 positions have been filled. Three hundred supervisors are on board and 1,600 employees began work July 28.  “We’re in great shape with hiring,” he said. “The energy level of the team members that have come on board has been fantastic.” The Horseshoe has received over 31,000 applications. The casino’s official opening is August 26.  •  The Northern Marianas Lottery Commission has extended by 30 days the timeline for reaching a casino development agreement with Best Sunshine International. Hong Kong-based Best Sunshine recently was awarded an exclusive license for a gaming resort on Saipan, the largest island of the US commonwealth, which is located in the Western Pacific north of Guam. The governing legislation requires a minimum of 2,000 hotel rooms and total investment of US$2 billion.  •  Portugal plans to have a regulated online gambling market in place by the end of this year. The national legislature has authorized the government to draft rules to govern the market. Details released so far indicate the industry will be overseen by the country’s top regulatory body, the Inspecção Geral de Jogos, which will require that participants able to show a minimum of €250,000 in share capital establish subsidiaries in Portugal. Web sites will need to be based in dot.pt domains and licenses will be valid initially for three years. Tax rates are expected to range from 15-30 percent of revenues from games of chance and race betting and 8-16 percent on sports betting.  •  The Horseshoe Casino Cleveland in Ohio has announced that it is accepting applications for 130 part-time table dealers. It will conduct an academy for dealers beginning August 25. Those hired will attend a four to six week course at the academy, being instructed in seven table games. • The New Hampshire Racing and Charitable Gaming Commission will now have more power to audit and investigate charity gaming thanks to a law that Governor Maggie Hassan signed last week. The charity events such as “Monte Carlo” nights benefit nearly 400 charities in the state with an estimated $75 million bet annually. The mini-casinos have operated since 1977 with a minimum of regulation other than limiting the size of bets and the number of days that each charity can sponsor the events. Since 2006 private operators have been allowed to run the games. The new law will lead to the hiring of new staff and the expenditure of about $500,000 annually. • Connecticut and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which operates Foxwoods casino resort in New London, have finalized an agreement granting police powers to the tribal police similar to those that municipal police departments have. The tribal police force currently has 25 officers. The agreement requires that the tribal police enforce state and federal laws within the reservation boundaries. The state signed a similar agreement with the Mohegan Tribe in May. All arrests made by the tribal police will be referred to state court for prosecution. • The Chumash tribe of Santa Barbara, California, last week held a hearing on its proposed Chumash Casino and Hotel expansion project in which it revealed that the new 12-story hotel tower would add 200 rooms to resort, for a total of 300. New dining and expanded casino floor will be part of the project, but no new slot machines. • Ohio’s 11^th casino, the $250 million Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course is scheduled to open September 17, assuming it gets final regulatory approval. The racino, operated by Penn National Gaming, will deploy 850 video lottery terminals (VLTs) and have racetrack seating for 1,000. • The Gaming Standards Association (GSA), which sets standards for the gaming industry, will hold a workshop in London on September 16 &17 to help the gaming industry and policy makers work together. The workshop is titled “Building Bridges.” One focus of the event will be on how GSA can work in the online gaming environment, particularly in Europe, which is considered the largest market for online gaming. Speakers will include regulators of gaming in the European Union. • The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has granted a remote gambling license to Realistic Games. This is one of the first remote licenses granted by the UK to a producer of slot and table games. Recently the UK adopted the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act, which requires providers of online and remote gaming to Britain to obtain a British license. The following year suppliers of such operators will also be required to have a UK license. Andy Harris, the company’s commercial director, commented, “This license represents a significant step for us. We’ve worked closely with the Gambling Commission throughout the application process and have now passed the most stringent tests of probity and due diligence.” Getting the license gives Realistic an advantage over competitors.   •  The Rank Group announced that its new £6 million casino and bingo hall in London’s Southend district will open September 18. The 24-hour Grosvenor Casino and Mecca Bingo Hall, adjacent to the Park Inn Palace Hotel, will create more than 100 jobs and bring new investment to the seafront resort area. “Southend is a popular seaside town with a long-established association with entertainment and innovation, making it ideal,” said Tom Docherty, the casino’s general manager. “We’re confident our new casino will attract new and existing gamers into Southend, with its state-of-the-art facilities, and further increase interest in the area as a key tourist destination. It will be a stylish new venue, where you can enjoy the thrill of gaming and live sports around the clock, and also support employment in the area.”  •  Seventy-seven people applied for the Macau government’s voluntary casino self-exclusion program during the three months ended June 30, up from 50 in the first quarter. The program, launched near the end of 2012, received 252 applications last year. The maximum exclusion period is two years and can be extended. Bans may include all casinos or only some.  •  William Hill processed 20.2 million bets, saw online wagering increase 211 percent and mobile wagering 146 percent during the 2014 World Cup, the company announced. Online gaming revenue was reportedly up 18 percent overall.  Total wagering was up 80 percent compared to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Digital revenues are now 39 percent of total group revenue, up from 35 percent, the company said.  •  Microgaming has launched a “Jurassic Park” video slot for its online casinos. The game includes five dinosaur-themed bonus games. Microgaming has a deal with Universal Partnerships & Licensing to produce slots themed on the 1993 film. The new slot features five different free spin modes depending on the DNA analysis of the dinosaur randomly selected. There are 5 reels each with three symbols
displayed and there are a total of 243 ways to win on every spin.  •  New Zealand is raising the minimum payout required of gaming machines in pubs and clubs. Beginning September 4, the rate of return will gradually increase over the next five years from 37.12 percent of gross proceeds to 42 percent.